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Connie Wilcox has been the lone Democrat among a Republican Town Council for four years. But her peers respect her so much that local Republicans endorsed her in this year's election so she will appear on both tickets. Wilcox has deep roots in the community. She has lived in Lansing 54 years, and lived a stone's throw over the border in Cayuga County when her family moved to Lansing when she was five years old. She has been married to husband Ed Wilcox for 15 years.
 
Her two sons work at the Lansing Highway Department. Charlie ‘Cricket' Purcell is the deputy Highway Superintendent, and Scott Purcell is the fire chief at the Lansing Fire Department. "I'm really proud of both my boys," she says. "Sometimes it makes it hard on them working for the town, because I don't cut them a break!"

She is retired from Bovis Lend Lease, where she was the director of Business Development. But she is busier in retirement than when she was working, with a part time job as bookkeeper for a Genoa company as well as catering. She is involved with the North Lansing Fire Auxiliary, which her mother Irene Tyrrell and grandmother Elsie Sharpsteen have been mainstays of since its inception. Wilcox met with the Star at Lansing Town Hall to talk about why she is running for a second term as Town Councilwoman.

Lansing Star: Why are you the best candidate and what unique benefits do you bring to the job?

Connie Wilcox: I think that I have a real understanding of what goes on in the town.  Before I initially ran for town board four years ago I mean this is my first term on the board, I spent two years coming to board meetings just to get a feel for what was actually going on and what the issues were and how people reacted, how the board reacted, stuff like that.

LS: Did you have an idea of running or a general interest?

CW: General interest at that point.  After the first year I decided that I might be interested in running for the board.  When (fomer Councilwoman Katrina Binkewicz) decided she wasn't going to run again I decided to throw my hat into the ring and just see what happened.  It worked out, and I was elected, and I can't believe it's been almost four full years, because it's really gone by fast. 

There have been a lot of issues -- some of them contentious.  I look at whatever is best for the town.

There have been a lot of issues -- some of them contentious.  I look at whatever is best for the town.  I don't have a personal agenda of any kind and I try not to personally look at things, I just try to look at what's the best benefit for the town as a whole.

I really like to interact with people and I don't mind having people ask me questions, and I don't mind trying to get them answers if I don't know.  Sometimes you have to tell people what they don't want to hear, but that's the way it is, and that's what's best for everybody.

I think that our board works well together.  We don't always agree.  People think it's always a 5-0 vote and we just rubber stamp everything, but they don't understand that sometimes we don't agree but we are always able to come to a consensus.  If we staunchly do not agree then one of us may vote no or two of us may vote no.  We work together cohesively as a board, so I feel strongly about that.

LS: What do you think are the top two or three issues that are facing the town over the next four years, and how will you address them?

CW: One of the biggest issues is development in the town.  Unfortunately, with or without sewer we're going to have development.  We just have to make sure we do it correctly, and that it's done in the best interest of everyone in the town.  You can't just keep hodge-podging everything you're doing as far as development goes, and I would really like to see more commercial development because that really helps with the tax base.

Unfortunately, without sewer at this point in time I don't think we're going to see a lot of that.  But there are other options for septic systems.  One developer has come to us with an idea of putting in a septic of their own that will cover the whole development.  It's a new concept but it has worked in other places so we are willing to look at that.

I am really interested in keeping the farm land in the northern end of the town because we have some really good farm land up there.  Unfortunately a lot of the farmers have been selling off lots to pay their taxes and to keep in business.  So we got all these road-front lots and land in the back.  I feel strongly about the farming community and hopefully with the new farm land protection act that we have, we already have a couple of farmers that have applied for those and have gotten grants that will allow them to be able to keep the farms as they are.

We'll keep the development in the south end, but we have to be really careful about that too, because we want to be good neighbors with the Village and we have to make sure that we don't overburden their highways with our development in the town.  I would like to see the town planning board and the village planning board have more joint meetings so that they could come together as to what their vision is for the town and the village and that would be good for both of us. 

LS: What your vision for development?  Everybody -- people who are opposed to sewer, people who are for sewer, it seems like everybody in town -- has said that if there has to be development it should be the right kind to preserve the character of the town.  So what is, to you, the right kind?

CW: Well the right kind of development to me would be a sort of a mixed-use thing.  I think we need some commercial stuff and I think we need affordable housing.  That's an important issue to me.  I'm chair of the affordable housing committee in the town.  This next year, if I'm reelected, I plan to work more closely with Better Housing to see what we can do.  We're trying to talk to some developers about doing affordable housing, perhaps putting in a development that's affordable for people. 

So that's my vision.  I would really love to see us have a grocery store in town or a drug store or a bank, but I'm not optimistic about that due to the fact that the village of Lansing is so close.  With the mall and all of that and the grocery stores up there, the demographics just don't show that we have what it needs to have one here.  It's unfortunate because I think a lot of people, including myself, really like the idea.

You can't just keep hodge-podging everything you're doing as far as development goes, and I would really like to see more commercial development because that really helps with the tax base.

LS: There's one train of thought that says that if town planning stays as it is, fairly loose, that just the natural course of things would be that houses would become ‘village north.'  It would be on North Triphammer and the roads in that.  Another possibility would be to encourage growth in a ‘town center' that, depending upon who you talk to, is over by the Rogue's Harbor and Pit Stop, or by the Extra Mart.  Or in between or across the street from the Town Hall.  The Watchtower Society wants to develop or sell to developers and that's north of this building but part of the general ‘town center' area.  The tentative plan Watchtower presented included a shopping area and other kinds of businesses.  So there are three different possible futures for Lansing. 

Do you have a favorite one or a fourth one?

CW: I certainly don't have a fourth one.  A lot of people put a lot of work into the 2010 plan, which was to develop a town center that would basically be the Rogue's Harbor area south to the old Chris & Greens restaurant, north to North Triphammer-Peruville area.

I think that if Watch Tower was able to sell their property to a developer that was to put in a mixed-use shopping center, office buildings, mixed housing things like that, I think that would be the town center and I think that would be great because it's actually on a main thoroughfare and it would put that cluster there.  It would still be part of this area too, because this area where the town hall and the library are would be easily accessible to that.

I guess I don't have a real strong opinion one way or the other, but I think that that would work fine.


LS: The up side is that it is so close to what people envision as a town center area.  But the downside is that it's sort of dipping north toward the protected farm area.

CW: Right.  The other thought I had, and I know some of the other people in town or town perimeter have the same thought too, is to extend where the T intersection is at Rogue's Harbor to have it go straight through to Conlon Road.  Straighten that out so that Conlon Road would come directly into the center.  And then you would have a town center there.  So that's another idea.

LS: I have heard the Conlon Road idea before, in terms of safety because turning there is horrible with the traffic light so near.  But I had never thought of it in terms of development point.

Sewers certainly are one tool in a tool kit for controlling development, but there are plenty of others.  How do you think growth should be controlled specifically by the town board?  What should the town board be looking at?

CW: Well we have our comprehensive plan, and I think the Planning Board along with the Town Board needs to look at development: where it is, what it is, and how we can successfully make development what we want it to be according to our comprehensive plan.  Part of that is having affordable housing, and having some commercial development.

And as far as the sewer goes, I think that we do need sewer, but I'm hoping that at some point and time we can look again at having our own stand alone sewer plant because I think that would put the sewer where it's needed right now -- along the lake front -- and I think that would help control development somewhat, too, as to where it should be and how it should be.  Our schools need it.  The lakefront properties needs it. 

That was my understanding.  I wasn't on the board at that time and the sewer thing was sort of an inherited project, but from my understanding that was what was originally thought -- a standalone plant down toward Portland Point or someplace like that which would service the areas that really needed it and control the urban sprawl into farm land.  I think our planning board needs to really work hard and take a look at the development in the area and work with the comprehensive plan and to make it happen the way we planned to have it.

LS: I have heard a number of town officials talk about the comprehensive plan.  Having a plan and implementing a plan -- there's the part in the middle where they have to connect.  Is that happening or how should that happen?

CW: Well it is happening somewhat.  It needs to happen more.  A comprehensive plan is not set in stone and it's sort of a working document that you keep changing as you need to change it but it gives you.  It's sort of your ‘bible' to start with, and then you expand on it from there.  That's the way I look at our comprehensive plan.  But it needs to be reviewed every two or three years just to make sure we're on track or to determine if we need to change our goals.

LS: What can or should the town do about services that the County provides?  The most obvious one of those is road patrol.  Do you think the County services are enough to take care of things like that, that there should be more from the County, or should the Town be doing something or affiliate?

I don't see the Town as being able to craft a full time police department.  I think the County does a decent job. 

CW: At this point of time I don't see the Town as being able to craft a full time police department.  I think the County does a decent job.  They are there when we need them.  I'm not sure if we get enough patrolling of roads as far as for speeding and things like that go, but if there is any kind of an emergency they're there.  I know the state troopers are a lot more present than they used to be.  I think between the State and the County they are working hard to cover these areas, and fortunately in Lansing I don't feel we have, and this could be different from what a lot of people think, but I don't feel we have a lot of crime going on or a lot of speeding things like that.

And I think if we get notification that something is going on I don't believe that any town officials are afraid to call and talk to the Sheriff's department and ask if they could ramp up patrols in this area.  I know they do extra patrolling of the parks at different times when they know it's going to be a heavy traffic weekend or whatever.  So I feel they are doing their job but they are just like all the rest of us - they have budget constraints and they can't be everywhere at once.

I think they are doing a decent job and I wouldn't condemn them.

LS: No, but when you're talking about growth you're talking about all of the things that go with it, including crime.  From what I've learned it seems pretty steady, but we're not talking about becoming a metropolis any time soon.

CW: No, but I envision us eventually -- maybe the next four years or the next 8 to10 years -- having our own part-time patrol.  Adding an officer that would patrol certain hours of the day or night.

LS: And that's beyond constable duties?

CW: Yes, I'm talking about an actual police officer.  It may come down to that and it may be something we look at every year.  Are we doing enough for our residents?  Do we have enough coverage? 

So we look at it every year and when it comes to the point where we think that's going to be needed, we'll move forward with that.  But at this point I think the county is providing the service that we need, when we need it.  And our town constable provides the service that we need during the spring and summer months of the year.

LS: Moving to the crystal ball and looking farther ahead, what changes would you hope to see in the town in the next 10-20 years, what changes would you not like to see?

I would like to see our town continue to grow in a responsible manner.  I would like to see affordable housing for everyone so if you want to have a house you can afford to buy one and live here.

CW: Well, I would like to see our town continue to grow in a responsible manner.  I would like to see affordable housing for everyone so if you want to have a house you can afford to buy one and live here.  I would like to see our taxes remain affordable.  We as a board work very hard every year, and this my fourth budget year.  We try to keep it as low as we can and in line with the consumer price index this is what people can afford.

I think that growth helps in two ways.  It builds a bigger tax base for us but then it also requires more services.  More services require more that you have to charge.  But I would like us to somewhat stay the kind of community we are now.  I think we have a community where everybody cares about everybody else, and you know your neighbors.

That's the kind of vision I would like to see for us -- to remain the type of caring community that we are at this point of time, even though we are growing.  I don't know what else to say about that but I think it's a great community and I would like it to remain that way.

LS: What would you like voters to know about your candidacy that we haven't discussed?

CW: I think we pretty much discussed everything but I would like them to know that I'm here for all of them.  I'm very approachable.  I always have been in the four years that I've been in office, and I remain that way.  Anyone is free to contact me at any time with any questions they want to ask me that we haven't covered in this interview, or anything they personally want to know that they wouldn't want to ask it in public.  If I can I will give them the answer.  If I don't know the answer I'll try to find out.

I don't have a personal agenda and it's certainly not for the money!  And it certainly takes lots of time to do this job.  But I really enjoy it.  If I didn't and I wasn't up for the challenge, I wouldn't be running for another four years.

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